The Green Bay Phoenix volleyball team believes it has an edge this season over other teams in the Horizon League that could take it all the way to the NCAA.

This season Green Bay Head Coach Debbie Kirch tailored down the scouting reports, resulting in no freshman on the team.

“It’s a really good advantage for us,” said Carmen Leitermann, junior middle blocker. “We were able to start out our preseason not going back to teaching everybody what our program is about. We now get to get into our normal flow.”

Leitermann, according to Kirch, is having a good season and is one of the many players on the team who stands out. Others, such as sophomore outside hitter LyndsayZabkowicz and junior libero Brittany Groth, are making quite an impact.

Kirch also noted Groth has come a long way the last couple of weeks and has been a stand-out for their team defensively. Groth received Horizon League Defensive Player of the Week Sept. 26, her second award in her college career.

“If I want to get an award like this, I need everyone on the team behind me,” Groth said. “Working as an individual isn’t going to get me anywhere because it doesn’t matter if I’m making good plays if they aren’t.”

Groth leads the communication in the back row and is the leader of the team’s defensive core. According to Kirch, different players have been stepping up at different times depending on the match.

Senior captain Abbey Gitter had 15 kills Sept. 27 against Chicago State and sophomore Leah Poel lead the offense with 46 assists. The Phoenix won the non-conference match 3-1.

The Phoenix holds an overall standing of 5-10 and are 1-2 in conference.

“When you look at our conference matches, we’ve played well, especially offensively,” Kirch said. “The team and the numbers we’re putting up offensively are definitely putting us in a position to win matches. Defensively, we just have to be more consistent. We had a really good defensive effort against Valparaiso Sept. 23, but then Saturday our defense took a step backward. We’re just looking for that consistency.”

According to Groth, the team’s chemistry plays a large role in winning matches.

“Just having everybody know what other people’s tendencies are helps,” Groth said. “We haven’t really had a set line-up, so when you’re put on the court with someone you’re not use to, you still know them and you know what they’re doing.”

Kirch noted the chemistry on the team this year is good. Last year, the Phoenix worked on team bonding exercises, but this season is different. The team focuses more on one-on-ones and getting to know individuals instead of the team collectively.

Groth said the entire team stayed in Green Bay this summer, leaving plenty of time for bonding in the offseason, but the team does a lot together during the season, as well. Such activities include team dinners before games, movie nights and hanging out.

The team bonding helps both on and off the court, allowing players to really get to know one another. Building chemistry gives the team a better understanding of each other and ways to get each other motivated for the next match.

“A lot of the motivation does come from our coaches, but at the same time, a lot of it is basically on us,” Leitermann said. “We have to get each other excited for the games.”

The Phoenix’s goals for this season are simple. The team wants to go all the way and make it to the NCAA.

“I hope we pick it up the next few matches and start getting on a winning streak,” Leitermann said. “That way we can get to the top of the Horizon League and make our way through the tournament.”

The slogan for the current Mauthe Center’s, Dinner with a Cause, Eat Well, event serves a double meaning. The donation-sponsored dinner not only offers a home-cooked meal for the campus community, but also has hopes of making a difference in the lives of African families.

This year, staff at the Mauthe Center has paired with The Water Project, a national organization, with the intent of raising enough money to build a well in Africa and that can provide clean water to those in need.

Students, staff and local community members are invited to dinner every Tuesday from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. at the MautheCenter. The meals served are free, but small donations for the cause are encouraged.

Marketing Coordinator for the Mauthe Center, Emily Garcia, expressed the impact the Eat Well campaign has had on those in need around the world.

“In May of 2010, the new staff at the Mauthe Center decided to make a difference in the lives of people who do not have clean water. Dinner with a Cause: Eat Well was born,” Garcia said. “We raised $5,000 during the 2010-11 academic year and we are currently using that money to build a well in Uganda.”

Garcia said the organization will continue to raise money and build more wells until clean water is no longer an issue.

“It is important for students to know they can make a difference now and that water, specifically how to share a limited resource, is the issue of their generation,” Garcia said. “UW-Green Bay is known as Eco-U and we are extending this tradition by creating an environment for our community to build a moral compass and address the issue of this generation.”

More than 150 students attended last week’s dinner, Sept. 27. According to Garcia, the numbers continue to grow with each passing week.

“The first week we served a spaghetti dinner and we had to add more tables because there were so many students,” said Emily Smith, intern at the Mauthe Center. “To see all the kids coming out for such a good cause was really cool.”

Many students enjoy the atmosphere and welcoming aura of the Tuesday night dinners.

“It’s free food, it’s good food and it feels like you’re at home,” said Pang Vang, freshman urban and regional studies major. “I don’t know what it is about the atmosphere, but I like it.”

Mauthe workers hope to inspire awareness and contribution to the well-being of the world population, while providing a way for students to learn about each other and themselves.

“Our expectation is simple,” Garcia said. “Come, enjoy each other’s company, build community and make a difference in the lives of people who currently do not have clean water.”

As October begins, so do many Oktoberfest celebrations in the Green Bay area. One of these festivals is the De Pere Area Chamber of Commerce’s Taste of Wine and Beer.

According to Cheryl Detrick, president of the De Pere Area Chamber of Commerce, the event began six years ago as a fundraiser for the organization.

The first years of Taste of Wine and Beer were unlike the last few times the event was held. Cheryl Detrick said most people at the function were people who worked with or were affiliated with the organization. Today anyone who is of age can attend. She also said people are coming from cities such as Wausau and Clintonville, Wis.

Not only did the demographic change but also what is served has changed. According to Alicia Detrick, events coordinator for the De Pere Area Chamber of Commerce, large distributors such as Triangle, Dean and Kay, Miller, Budweiser and some microbrews, were the main beer suppliers in the past. Now, local breweries and wineries such as Titletown Brewery and Parallel 44 Winery have become supporters as well.

There’s nothing more exciting than waking up to a bright, beautiful morning, turning on your laptop to dropbox that paper you nearly developed carpal tunnel creating the night before, when you click and discover the Internet is down. Such a realization hardly registers as a surprise actually, considering its steady reoccurrence so far this semester.

For the new school year, the Office of Residence Life has replaced private routers with wireless Internet. It seemed like a promising step in the right direction and we certainly didn’t mind the idea of getting rid of all the inconveniences of routers and bulky Internet cables.

But to say the road to easy wireless access has been flawless would rouse even the most technologically declined students into debate. Depending on the residence hall, there are gaps in speed and efficiency, which only serves students with a hot plate of doubt fresh from the oven.

In previous years, personal routers limited an Internet loss outbreak to a single apartment. While the router was repaired or replaced, an Internet cable plugged into the network acted as an instant fix. School technology consultants also overlooked such an inconvenience, as routers were privately owned and not serviced by the university.

Since the swap, such a large wireless network risks an even greater population of students temporarily losing access if the system is damaged or shuts down, as was seen little more than a week ago.

For nearly an entire day, Internet was a no-go in all residence halls. Suddenly, clicking the swirly fox to simply check email or creep on Facebook came to a screeching halt with an error message. With this potential for sweeping outages, the CIT Techs on campus definitely feel the heat.

Because wireless access was announced before students arrived, a back-up cable was likely tossed into a closet and left at home. Obviously, this sets up a serious roadblock for homework, which is great news for slackers, but an anxiety attack for serious studiers.

Thankfully, whether that cord is dug from the bottom of the closet or by making a trek to the Cofrin Library, Internet access is still available for students.

“As long as I have Internet somehow, I’m indifferent,” said Torey Hilt, senior human biology major.

New technology is always bought with a cart full of quirks, bugs and difficulties that could pop up at any moment. Remember when Netflix first promised instant shows and movies straight to your computer and television? Everyone did a double take.

Despite its inconveniences so far and considering it has been operating less than a month, we like to think wireless access still has the potential to fulfill its hopes and expectations. Such wonders would allow for that video with the chubby cuppy cake boy to stream without interruption while Google prowls for all the right images for a killer Powerpointpresentation. And those Aaron Rodgers pictures for your laptop background, too.

To keep with the positivity theme, the wireless network is, at the moment, working seamlessly. If the network should crash tomorrow, then the time may have arrived to unleash the horde of avid YouTube fans on the unknowing, unfortunate tech guys. Or maybe we should just allow the necessary time that may be needed to smooth all the kinks. That might be a little easier.